1 -
Musicweb International:
Die Walküre, Recording of the
Month 2 - The Guardian:
Wagner:
Die Walküre – review 3 - Financial Times:
Wagner:
Die Walküre; Jonas Kaufmann: Arias and Lieder by Wagner 4
- Spiegel online:
Gergiev
und Wagner: Reitet 'ne Walküre auf der Newa 5 -
L'Express:
La
Walkyrie, un enregistrement événement 6 - Associated
Press:
Various
Artists, "Wagner: Die Walkuere" (Mariinsky) 7 -
Télérama:
Die
Walküre 8 - The Sunday Times:
Pick of
the week - Wagner — Die Walküre 9 - Opera
Britannia:
Die
Walküre (Mariinsky) 10 - Bay Area Reporter:
Inexhaustible Wagner
11 - The Telegraph:
Wagner:
Die Walküre, classical album review 12 - Diapason:
Wagner se lève à l'Est 13 - Classicalsource:
Mariinsky/Valery Gergiev – Wagner’s Die Walküre
14 - Prestoclassical:
Wagner from Jonas
Kaufmann and others 15 - El Mercurio:
GRAN
ELENCO PARA “LA WALKYRIA” 16 - The Boston Globe:
WAGNER:
“DIE WALKÜRE” 17 - Opéra:
Une
Walkyrie de rêve 18 - WDR:
Valery
Gergiev: Die Walküre 19 - Le Figaro:
Musique
classique: le Top 3 de la semaine 20 - El Nuevo
Herald:
Nina
Stemme y Jonas Kaufmann lideran una Valquiria ‘á la rusa’
21 - Opernglas:
Die
Walküre 22 - Concertonet:
Richard
Wagner : Die Walküre 23 - Audiophile Edition:
WAGNER:
Die Walküre 24 - Classique News:
Wagner: La
Walkyrie (Gergiev, 2011-2012) 25 - San Francisco
Classical Voice:
Gergiev’s
Starry Die Walküre 26 - Nürnberger Nachrichten:
Neue CDs:
Gergievs "Ring" 27 - Le Temps:
Une
«Walkyrie» rédimée par ses voix 28 - Gramophone:
Gergiev's new in-concert Ring launches with Die Walküre
29 - Opera UK:
Die
Walküre, Wagner 30 - The New York Times:
Wagner: ‘Die Walküre’
31 - Opernwelt:
Gestückelt 32 - Los Angeles Times:
Critic's
pick: A standout 'Die Walkure' on CD from Mariinsky 33 -
Musica:
Wagner - Die
Walküre ***** 34 - Die Welt:
Neue CDs
zum Wagner-Jahr 35 - Limelight:
Wagner -
Die Walküre 36 - International Record Review:
Wagner -
Die Walküre 37 - BBC Music Magazine:
Gergiev's
Valkyries take flight 38 - Opera News:
WAGNER:
Die Walküre 39 - Kwadratuur:
Die
Walküre 40 - KlassikInfo:
Zwei
halbe Ringe 41 - L'Opera:
Die Walküre
42 - Amadeus:
Die Walküre
43 - Magazin Klassik.com:
Altmodisch modern 44 - RONDO:
Richard
Wagner - Die Walküre
|
1
- Much of the attention this release gets will focus on Jonas
Kaufmann’s Siegmund, and rightly so because he is a marvel. He is now at
the point of his career where his voice is perfect for the role of the
Wälsung hero. He combines lyrical beauty with dark, rugged heroism and a
supreme sense of excitement in articulating every phrase. The baritonal
darkness of his voice makes you sit up and take notice from the very
first phrase, and it’s this that makes his assumption of the role so
distinctive. It adds an even greater layer of pathos to the character’s
suffering while giving Siegmund extra heroic grandeur that makes us root
for him all the more. The excitement is there in his cries of Wälse!
Wälse! and in his ringing excitement of Wälsungen-Blut that brings down
the curtain on Act 1, but the lyrical beauty of his Winterstürme is
every bit as compelling, as is his lovely song to the sleeping Sieglinde
at the end of Act 2. As important as the vocal beauty, though, is the
thoughtful artistry that underpins everything he does. Like a lieder
singer, he seems to have thought deeply about the text and each phrase
feels laden with meaning, articulated with clarity and precision.
Listen, for example, to the way in which he grows into his narration of
his past in the first act. The opening phrases seem tentative, even
nervous, as if he is reluctant to share his life story with Hunding, but
the monologue grows like a great arch leading to a final couplet (Nun
weisst du, fragende Frau...) that will break your heart. Likewise, the
entire Todesverkundigung scene grows in stature from its dream-like
beginnings through to a hair-raising finale, electrified by Kaufmann’s
identification with the text, before subsiding into the peace of
Zauberfest. Kaufmann’s Siegmund is more lyrical than Jon Vickers
(Karajan on DG), more beautiful than Gary Lakes (Levine on DG), more
distinctive than Poul Elming (Barenboim on Warner) and more heroic than
James King (Solti on Decca or Böhm on Philips). The closest comparison
I’ve come across on disc is with Ramón Vinay (Krauss on Archipel and
Keilberth on Testament) whose dark voice is of a similar hue to
Kaufmann’s and who has a similarly complete identification with the
character. This should be enough to show you that Kaufmann’s Siegmund is
in a very special league indeed, and for his contribution alone this set
is worth the purchase price.
2 - In the first
act at least, with Jonas Kaufmann as an incomparable Siegmund, Anja
Kampe a profoundly moving Sieglinde and Gergiev pacing the performance
to an overwhelming climax, the result is spellbinding. In fact, few
performances on disc can match it for sheer excitement, or for
Kaufmann's blend of easy power, immaculate diction and lyric beauty.
3 - The link between these Wagner bicentenary
releases is not just the master of Bayreuth. It is Kaufmann, who sings a
rapturous Siegmund on the first instalment of Valery Gergiev’s St
Petersburg Ring and treats us to a matchless Wagner recital with the
Orchestra of Berlin’s Deutsche Oper under Donald Runnicles.
4 - Mit Jonas Kaufmann hat er dabei einen Siegmund,
der für die nötige Erdung in Sachen deutschen Wagner-Feelings
bürgt...Jonas Kaufmanns gemessener Siegmund dient als idealer Ausgleich:
Seine immer noch leicht manieriert rollende Diktion bringt eine
würdevoll historische Note ins Spiel, die sich mit dem auftrumpfenden
Sopran von Anja Kampes Sieglinde verbindet. Ein sexy Paar, das sich vom
dämonisch drohenden Mikhail Petrenko (Hunding) nicht einschüchtern
lässt.
5 - Première "journée" à paraître, cette Walkyrie réunit
les meilleurs chanteurs wagnériens du moment : Kaufmann, justement, est
un Siegmund pénétrant, ...
6 - Tenor Jonas
Kaufmann and soprano Anja Kampe are just about ideal as the twins
Siegmund and Sieglinde
7 - Dans un marché de
voix wagnériennes plus florissant qu'il y a vingt ans, Valery Gergiev a
préempté le meilleur. Notamment pour les rôles masculins. C'est au
Siegmund werthérien de Jonas Kaufmann que revient la palme. Depuis le
Canadien Jon Vickers (dans l'enregistrement de Karajan), on n'avait plus
entendu l'« Hymne au printemps » chanté avec un phrasé aussi ample et
voluptueux, des pianissimi aussi tendres.
8 -
His Act I has Jonas Kaufmann’s heroic, poetic Siegmund at the peak of
his powers, partnering a limpid, youthful-sounding Sieglinde in Anja
Kampe — a dream pair of Wälsung twins for our time, and one to compare
with the greatest on disc.
9 - I imagine just
about every Wagnerian would put Jonas Kaufmann at the head of their
wish-list casting for Siegmund and – rather wonderfully – that’s what
the Mariinsky has done here. ‘A voice as soft as wild honey dripping
from a tree’ – Kipling describing Bagheera, the black panther in The
Jungle Book; it could equally be applied to Kaufmann, whose baritonal
timbre and almost smoky half tones make his Siegmund intensely
masculine. His ‘Winterstürme’ is softly ardent, immediately answered by
a beautiful ‘Du bist der Lenz’ from our Sieglinde. Anja Kampe might be a
surprise choice for some – her Wagner hasn’t always been ecstatically
received – but she sings all the notes with a good deal of control. She
is possibly less warm than Eva-Maria Westbroek, but she sings tenderly
when required and opens into a marvellous ‘O hehrstes Wunder!’ in Act
III. Kaufmann and Kampe are simply thrilling at the end of Act I, so
much so that it elicited a cheer from this armchair listener.
31 - Die force majeur der Aufnahme ist der Siegmund von
Jonas Kaufmann. Er schenkt der Partie nicht nur Fülle des Wohllauts,
sondern singt sie auch mit höchster expressiver Energie; überdies sorgt
er bei den «Wälse»-Rufen oder in den ekstatischen Momenten des Duetts
(etwa bei «So blühe denn, Wälsungenblut») für echten thrill. Vor allem
überzeugt er durch ein vokales und verbales Agieren, das jede Geste der
Figur in einem Klangspiegel sichtbar werden lässt. Seine Stimme erinnert
- gerade in der dunklen Färbung der unteren Oktave - immer mehr an Jon
Vickers. Bemerkenswert, wie geschmeidig dynamische Übergänge vom Forte
ins Piano gelingen, wobei kaum je der Eindruck entsteht, dass er mit
zwei Stimmen, also entweder modal oder kopfig, singt. Imponierend ist
vor allem die Stetigkeit seines Singens, die Rundung des Tons selbst in
Momenten dramatischer Intensivierung. (Jürgen Kesting, Opernwelt) |